Artificial shingle



'Dec. 1924 1,520,947

C. H. HARRIS ARTIFICIAL SHINGLE Filed April 30, 1924 Patented Dec. 30, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES H. HARRIS, OF YONKERS, NEW YORK.

. ARTIFICIAL SHINGLE.

Application filed April 30, 1924. Serial No. 709,957.

to shingles made artificially fro-m any suit able composite material such as a composition of asphaltum or the like or other sheet material such as copper plate or the like.

Among the objects of the invention is to provide a roofing shingle having peculiar and novel construction and a specifically different type of fastening means for holding the lower corner portion thereof flat.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel starting strip having peculiar correlation to the shingle elements and fastening means.

Vith the foregoing and other objects in view the invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and while the invention is not restricted to the exact details of construction disclosed or suggested herein, still for the purpose of illustrating a prac tical embodiment thereof reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same parts in the several views, and in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of a portlon of the starting strip.

Figs. 2, 3, and 4 are respectively front, edge, and bottom views of a preferred construction of shingle.

Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of the attachment clip for a. shingle.

Fig. 6 is'an edge view of the same.

7 is a plan view indicating the manner of securing the shingles to the starting strip and their relation to each other.

Fig. 8 is a further development of the shingling process.

Fig. 9 is a vertical sectional detail on the line 99 of Fig. 8.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings the starting strip 10 is made of any suitable material and of suflicient length for pieces to be cut from the supply or roll long enough to extend from one end of the roof to the other along the lower or eave edge thereof. The starting strip may be of any suitable width but preferably slightly greater than one-half the diagonal diameter of a shingle. At any convenient distance from the extreme lower edge of the starting strip, say for instance, one and one-half inches, it is provided with a series of holes 11 of any suitable form, but uniformly arranged with respect to the edge of the strip and equally spaced from each other, a distance preferably exactly equal to the diagonal width of the shingles. These holes are preferably formed in the factory for the sake of uniformity of location.

\Vithout being unnecessarily restricted as to size, form, or composition thereof, the shingles 12 are shown in the general form of square rectangles with one corner 13 thereof curved on a radius of say two inches.

The preferred means for attaching the shingles severally to the starting strip and to successive courses of shingles includes for each shingle a clip 14 comprising two substantially flat portions 14* constituting a tongue and 14" constituting an anchorage or fastening plate, the latter having a hole 15 through which a-permanent fastener such as a rivet 16 is projected and secured for fastening the end portion 14 firmly against the under side of the shingle while the tongue portion 14 projects 11 ward toward the corner 13' of the shingle iagonally opposite the rounded corner or point 13. The two portions 14 and 14. are arranged in two planes slightly offset from each other according to the shoulder 17, the depth of the offset being substantially equal to the thick ness of the shingle body and which for this reason is relatively slight when used in connection with shingles made of sheet metal. In some case's especially in connection with composition shingles, the clips 14 are provided preferably with one or more spurs or prongs 18 which may be formed by slitting or stamping portions of the flat portions 14*, the points of the prongs extending downward toward the anchor portion of the clip and so are adapted to catch into the starting strip or other portions of the The method of laying the shingles or assembling the roof is substantially as follows: The starting strip 10 having been out according to the length of the roofline .is laid adjacent to the eave where it may be fastened by any inserted or pro ected through it at any desired points, some of which nails should be relatively close to the holes 11. The first course of shingles then are laid one after the other, the tongue portion M of the clip of each being projected directly through its hole 11, and the shingle as a whole then is slipped upward until the shoulder 17 of the clip comes up against the wall of the hole and with the point or corner 13' of such shingle being directly upward along the roof from the axis of the hole. When this first course of shingles are thus laid and the side corners thereof touch each other in pairs and fastened by fasteners such as nails 19 relatively close to the corners, the second course of shingles are laid, the clip of each being slipped directly upward below the adjacent pair of corners of the first course of shingles, the shoulder 17 in this instance being brought directly against the edges of the under shingle corners and just below the horizontal line joining the nails 19 fastening the same. The side corners of the second course of shingles are then fastened by nails or the like in pairs as be fore stated and the third course of shingles are laid in their turn. The amount of over lap of each shingle over the under shingles is determined by the spacing of the respective clips from the rounded or lower corner port-ions. While any suitable arrangement or design of finished roofing may be produced by this'system, I have found that the rounded corner 13 produces a pleasing effect and departure from the usual methods of laying shingles. This rounded point may project half an inch or thereabout over the lower edge of the starting strip. This pro- :duces a pleasing efi'ect, and yet because of the rounding of the points, the likelihood of catching other objects or curling up is reduced practically to a minimum. It is obvious that the tongue portion 14 of a clip may be as long as desired so that it may project beyond the under shingle'so that the spurs 18 may engage over or above the edge of the shingle, or into the roof sheathing beneath it. For composite shingles, however, I prefer the arrangement as illustrated,

suitable nails or the like metal fastener clips for the shingles, said clips having free tongue portions proj ectable directly through the starting strip holes and lying close along the under surface of the starting strip remote from the holes, each fastener clip comprising two substantially flat end portions offset from each other according to the thickness of the starting strip, and rigid fastening means passing through one of said flat portions for securing it to the shingle while the other flat portion lies spaced parallel from the under surface of the shingle.

2. In an artificial roofing, a. shingle having a rounded lower point, a fastener clip, and means to secure the fastener clip to the under surface of the shingle, the fastening means for the clip comprising a rigid member extending through a portion of the clip and through the shingle approximately at the center of curvature of said point of the shingle, that portion of the fastening clip remote from the fastener for securing it to the shingle being provided with prong means adapted to bite downward into the roof portion beneath it.

3. In artificial roofing, the combination with a plurality of shingles so arranged that parts of the successive shingles in a course lie in proximity to each other While the lower portion of the shingles in the next upper course overlap the parts aforesaid, of fastening means for said shingles, said fastening'means including a clip secured to an upper shingle at the lower portion thereof and having a tongue adapted to 

